During a recent visit to Kenya, Diamond Platnumz opened up on circumstances that forced him to review his performance fees and with that Kenyan shows became hard to come by unlike the past.
The musician, known for his famous Bongo flava songs, told journalists he had to review his rates upwards after realizing that artists from other nations were getting paid more to perform in East Africa than the homegrown artistes.
However, the crooner came short of revealing how much he now charges for his performances.
For his last performance at Ngong Racecourse two weekends ago, there were claims on social media that he pocketed about Sh22 million for his two hours plus stage show.
Nairobi News reached out to a booking agent who had previously booked Diamond for shows in Kenya and gave an insight into how much the Wasafi singer might be charging.
“I honestly don’t know about the Oktobafest show, but I recently tried to book him for a show that was supposed to happen last month in October and he was ready to negotiate anything between 80,000 dollars to 100,000 dollars (Ksh12 million – Ksh 15 million) depending on the obligations outlaid in the contract,” the agent stated.
Besides performance fees, Diamond’s Rider also now includes hiring him a private jet for a gig.
“That depends on the type of jet you are hiring for him and where he is flying from. For Oktobafest I saw he flew in from Dar Es Salaam with a Cessna Citation and because it’s just here, hiring it would cost 5,000 dollars (Ksh750,000) but for a return ticket that would be around 12,000 dollars (Ksh1.8 million) give or take,” the booking agent added.
During the interview with the journalists, Diamond revealed the reason he has been unable to perform in Kenya for a while now has been occasioned by that move of reviewing his rates upwards.
Six, seven years ago, Diamond grew fond of Kenyan tours at a time when he only flew business class and charged anything between Ksh3 million to Ksh5 million.
But Mr Dangote as he is fondly known, maintains those are gone days and as such if organizers can’t afford to meet his new rates then there is no deal.
“I changed my rate card from what I used to charge back in the day because I realized that in East Africa, when artistes from other nations come here there is more money for them but when it comes to us, we are not paid well. So I said I must be paid the money I deserve or else I won’t come. I’m building the value of my brand and sometimes East Africans may value other people and not you despite what you are doing. We have to change that narrative and I already am,” BY NAIROBI NEWS